Submitted by david d on Wed, 03/12/2008 - 9:07am. Otherdog sledsIditarod
Today on the radio I heard that the man who won the Iditarod was using a sled made in near where I live in New England. First I thought, wow, what a great accomplishment, and all without using any gasoline! The defending champion Lance Mackey won the Iditarod sled dog race today, completing the grueling 1,850-kilometre trek across Alaska in less than 9.5 days. He ran most of the race on a sled built for him by Carl Brown of Whitefield, New Hampshire.
At one point there was no other way to get to Alaska in the winter, but by dog sled.
In 1925 Nome Alaska ruled the headlines with a
deadly diphtheria epidemic that was threatening to wipe out all the children of the small town. The country was on edge as a dog sled relay was set up to get the serum to the town. The famous Balto was the the lead dog of that sled team, and was instantly famous for delivering the life saving serum to the sick people of Nome. Read more on the story here.
Although our culture has evolved immensely since 1925, events like the Iditarod can take us back to a different time period. It's interesting to look back at how things were, and how much things have changed, and how those changes may or may not have affected our environment, locally and globally.